photo by Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports
By FRANCO PANIZO
For the second straight month, the U.S. Men’s National Team has gone the wrong way in the FIFA Rankings.
The U.S. fell a spot to drop to 32nd in the latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday. The Americans did not play any matches since February’s rankings were unveiled on February 12, but that still did not stop them from sliding further down a month after plummeting four spots.
CONCACAF’s top team remains Costa Rica, which still sits in 13th place. A stagnant Mexico follows in 21st. Following the U.S., the next best team from the region is Panama at 61st.
In the top 10, there was almost no movement. Only Italy jumped up two spots into 10th place, dropping Spain to 11th and Switzerland to 12th. Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium and the Netherlands remain in the top five spots.
The next FIFA rankings will be released on April 9, and the U.S. will have played road games against Denmark and Switzerland by then.
What do you think of these FIFA rankings? See the U.S. making forward move after March’s European friendlies? Should there have been more movement in the top 10?
Share your thoughts below.
3 more spots in this direction is Iceland !
Portugal above Spain? Right…
seems about right. the usmnt is garbage and havent proved anything to anyone. klinsmann has to get things straightened out or he should be axed bc hes not getting it done. stick to a certain style/ tactics. it seems as if he doesnt have his own style or tactics that he can implement. he must be out of answeres for this dreadful pool of players. and the older players have to be done with usmnt. the younger players play a different style of soccer the older players still play the same soccer they did before klinsman. like the saying goes, you cant teach an old dog new tricks
Thanks JoJo. The way I got the Js capitalized was by hitting the shift key at the same time as I typed the “j”.
This error strewn comment is primarily evidence of JoJo’s illiteracy but he’s right that JK hasn’t really advanced the USMNT much.
US was ranked 4th in April prior to the 2006 World Cup. We still weren’t seeded for that tournament. It’s pretty much meaningless.
Why anyone at all pays any attention to this pointless marketing tool is beyond me.
FIFA was using a formula that included past world cup performances, when they were seeding in 06. consequently, our 98 last place finish hurt our 06 seeding.
my sense, over years of watching, is that trying to marginalize rankings is a losing proposition.
These ratings are worthless but FIFA uses them for world cup seeding so unfortunately they are relevant.
The U-17 match last night was fairly disastrous. From a few minutes to qualification to on the brink of elimination in a matter of days. The team looked devoid of energy and inspiration, and I do question their ability to win on Sunday, whoever they happen to play. Not sure how this works with players so young, but the ‘star’ players need to have a gut check moment and get it done on Sunday.
I don’t think they looked devoid of energy at all, they had so many good looks at goal and just couldn’t put them on target. I’d argue they were pretty clearly the better team just couldn’t convert. Tough break.